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Christopher Adams

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"Gentleman" Christopher Adams (February 10, 1955 – October 7, 2001) was a professional wrestler, wrestling promoter, trainer and judoka. Adams wrestled primarily in the Texas promotions, most notably for World Class Championship Wrestling, where he became one of the most popular wrestlers in the promotion's history.

Adams is best known for being the trainer of "Stone Cold" Steve Austin in 1989, and bringing the Superkick to American wrestlers. Adams was also among the first wrestlers to use the Sharpshooter, which he called the Superlock (around 1985). He was also famous for using backflips and somersaults to catch his opponent off-guard. Adams was also known for diving from the canvas through the ropes to his opponent on the floor, one of the few wrestlers to execute this dangerous manuever.

Contents

Career

Chris first came to prominence in WCCW in Texas, working for Fritz Von Erich. He was teamed with Gino Hernandez as a heel team known as The Dynamic Duo. Hernandez turned on Adams and "blinded" him. Adams would come to the ring with a cane and feel his way through his matches for quite some time, but it helped him become a face. He also had a major feud that lasted over a year against both Kevin Von Erich in 1985 and Terry Taylor in 1987. Chris was the second World Class heavyweight champion since its defection from the NWA, defeating Rick Rude for the title on July 4, 1986 at Reunion Arena in Dallas.

Early career

Before entering professional wrestling, Chris was involved in judo exclusively for 12 years, beginning at the age of 11. Chris and younger brother Neil Adams went on to win national and world championships in judo, with Neil going on to win a silver medal at both the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, Russia and the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California. Chris himself was among the youngest Judo champions in the sport and was a member of the 1976 Summer Olympics Judo squad representing Great Britain, but never competed in the Olympics. Though not a participant, he was at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles as an advisor to the British Judo squad and also for moral support as brother Neil was competing.

In 1978, Chris first entered pro wrestling after being introduced to the sport by a friend, Jackie Turpin, whose father was pro boxer Randolph Turpin, and later watching matches involving The Dynamite Kid. Adams wrestled for two years in England, with no true-formal training thanks in part to his judo background, before moving on to Los Angeles to compete at the famed Olympic Auditorium for a few years. Adams did have some championship success in England, winning the British Commonwealth tag team title with Marty Jones and the British light heavyweight championship from Mark "Rollerball" Rocco. Adams also competed alongside many British wrestling legends, including Shirley Crabtree, Dave Finlay, The Dynamite Kid and Davey Boy Smith.

In L.A., Adams almost immediately became a major force in the waning days of the historic promotion operated by Mike and Gene LaBell, winning the NWA Americas title and twice winning the NWA Americas tag team titles. He also won the television championship twice, which was called the "Beat The Champion" title.

Adams also wrestled in Portland for Don Owen's Pacific Northwest promotion as well as being involved in several tours of Japan, Europe, Mexico and Canada. In Portland, he learned the ins and outs of the politics of wrestling, and struck close friendships with many fellow wrestlers such as Rick Martel, Matt Borne, Jesse Barr and King Parsons. While in Mexico, Adams won the then-WWWF Light heavyweight championship from veteran Perro Aguayo in 1981, a championship reign that was really ignored by the now-World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). Adams held that championship for two months.

World Class and Texas

By 1983, Adams was contacted by Fritz Von Erich to compete in World Class, which prevented him from possibly returning to England. He joined the Dallas-based promotion on April 15, 1983 and was quickly a crowd favorite and an ally of the Von Erichs (Chris was billed as being the "pen pal" of Kevin Von Erich, and was also named by the Adkissons as an "honorary Von Erich"). Heel wrestlers and managers would often taunt Chris, referring to him as slimy limey. Adams eventually would become as equally important to World Class as the Von Erichs, although he was not always a babyface in the federation.

In the early going, Chris often teamed with the Von Erichs in several six and sometimes eight-man tag team matches against The Fabulous Freebirds and Jimmy Garvin. Soon thereafter, Adams and Garvin began battling each other, with valets Sunshine and Precious getting involved, which resulted in among the first mixed tag-team matches in modern day wrestling history. At one point, Adams disguised himself as "The Masked Avenger" to earn a NWA World Class title shot, which he would eventually win in November 1983; the first of five World Class American/World Class World Heavyweight title reigns for Adams.

Following a loser-leaves-town match victory over Garvin, Adams split his time between Dallas and Los Angeles, during the 1984 Summer Olympics, as his brother Neil was competing in Judo as well as being one of the advisors to the British Judo squad.

In late-August, after the L.A. Olympics, Chris hired manager Gary Hart, and eventually turned heel following a September 21, 1984 tag team match at the Dallas Sportatorium.

In that match, Adams was paired with Kevin Von Erich against Jake "The Snake" Roberts and Gino Hernandez. As the match winded down, Stella Mae French's interference backfired, causing Hernandez to pin Adams and win the match. Afterwards, Adams began arguing with French, with Gary Hart also getting involved. Kevin came in as a peacemaker, trying to calm Adams down. Hart then was about to hit French when Kevin attacked him in retaliation. Adams then superkicked Kevin, and walked back to the dressing room while Hernandez and Roberts engaged in a two-on-one gangup on Kevin, with French cold-cocked by Hart during the melee. Kerry Von Erich eventually ran in to chase Hernandez and Roberts away.

Fans were mixed on their feelings towards Chris; many sided with him as opposed to siding with Kevin; which prompted Fritz Von Erich to go hardcore in an upcoming match at the Cotton Bowl three weeks later. After being defeated by Kevin in that match, he was offered a deal to fire Hart and all would be forgiven. Adams then grabbed a wooden chair and smashed it on Kevin's head. What was not supposed to happen, according to Adams was the chair broke in half, which resulted in a concussion and bleeding from Von Erich's head. Kevin would eventually return the favor to Adams a month later at Reunion Arena, and again, the chair broke in half on impact, with part of the wood lodged in Adams' nose, very close to his eye (this resulted in an abrupt end to that particular angle).

Chris later competed in a six-man tag team match alongside Jake Roberts and Gino Hernandez, and defeated Kerry Von Erich, Mike Von Erich and Bobby Fulton (subbing for the injured Kevin Von Erich). During that match, the fans chanted Chris is a traitor!, while others held Benedict Adams signs. Some fans still continued to support Adams after this, but in time the Englishman became a full-fledged heel.

In early-1985, Adams "fired" manager Gary Hart, which drew some cheers, but Chris was not about to turn face at this point.

Adams' feud with the Von Erichs shot him to the top of the wrestling world, and after firing Hart in 1985, he began feuding with virtually every World Class wrestler, face or heel. The fans would side with Adams against whomever he was facing with the exception of the Von Erichs and close allys like King Parsons or Brian Adias, which would make Adams among the first heel wrestlers in modern wrestling to be cheered and jeered at the same time. In fact, Adams still signed autographs after the matches and greet the fans walking towards the ring, even moreso after firing Gary Hart, and was always polite to ring announcers Bill Mercer and Marc Lowrance (both of whom were close friends with Adams) during his interview segments.

Chris would later tag team with Gino Hernandez to form the second version of The Dynamic Duo. In addition, Adams would wrestle NWA World champion Ric Flair several times, and nearly winning the championship on two separate occasions (in one match, interference by the One Man Gang cost Adams, who had Flair pinned for at least 10 seconds while the referee was distracted). Another angle Chris was involved in was a battle of superkicks with The Great Kabuki, who was brought in by Sunshine in her feud against Adams.

While paired with Hernandez, Adams developed a gimmick that would later be used by Brutus Beefcake in the WWF--by using a pair of large scissors and cut the hair off opponents after each match. This led to a famous October 1985 showdown at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, where Adams and Hernandez faced Kevin and Kerry Von Erich in a lumberjack loser-loses-hair match. The Von Erichs won when Kerry pinned Chris; thus Adams and Hernandez were shaven bald.

The pair wore masks for a couple months while their hair was growing back, and eventually wrestled without the masks by the end of the year.

In 1986, Adams was to work an angle with Gino Hernandez, in which the pair split up and began feuding (beginning in December 1985, about two months after the Cotton Bowl event), with the fans completely siding with Adams. Following a January 27, 1986 match in Fort Worth, in which Hernandez "blinded" Adams with "Freebird Hair Cream" (after Adams, who had the match won, refused to pin Hernandez twice), Adams was to sell his injury to take time off and visit relatives in England, then return to feud with Hernandez. Unfortunately, Hernandez was found dead on February 4,1986 from a cocaine overdose, having died approximately three days after his match with Adams.

Chris worked a heartwrenching angle in which he was being helped into his Corvette by his wife Toni Adams after a brief interview with announcer Bill Mercer. The angle, in fact, had to be reshot because on the first take, Chris (whose eyes were bandaged shut) entered the Corvette the wrong way. Four days after returning to England, the Scotland Yard questioned Adams regarding Hernandez's death (which was originally considered a homicide case), but eventually Adams was not considered a suspect, and Gino's death was ruled a suicide by OD.

Adams did return in May 1986 by wearing an eyepatch on his left eye for several matches; then worked an angle with Rick Rude, in which Adams won the World Class heavyweight title on July 4, 1986 at Reunion Arena. Adams held the WCCW title until leaving the promotion in September 1986 due to legal troubles (World Class explained the title change occurring in Los Angeles with Black Bart winning the World Class title; however, that match never took place).

In late-1986, Adams defected to the Universal Wrestling Federation, where he became a tag team champion with Terry Taylor in February 1987. Two months later, Taylor and Adams began a violent feud which eventually was carried over to World Class in 1988. Adams also wrestled in Missouri, competing in Mike George's World Wrestling Alliance promotion, and had brief stints in Georgia and Florida before going into promoting his own matches late in the year, under the brand L&A Promotions, with Tom Lance as his business partner.

1989 was a very busy year for Adams, competing in World Class as well as operating his own wrestling school at the Dallas Sportatorium. Among his prized students was a young loading dock worker named Steve Williams, who played football at North Texas State. Williams became a regular wrestler late in the year, then changed his name to Steve Austin. Chris also was responsible for starting the careers of Chad Hart (Gary Hart's son), Khris Germany, Ed Robinson and Alex Porteau.

Chris was married to Jeannie Clark, better known in WCW as "Lady Blossom" from the late 1970s to around 1984. Jeannie was also married to Steve Austin in the 1990s. Chris was also married to Toni Adams from around 1985 to 1992. Chris, Jeannie, Toni and Steve were all good friends and all four promoted a feud pitting Chris and Toni against Jeannie and Steve in 1990, which eventually was one of the last great feuds in Dallas Sportatorium history. During one match in which the participants wore anything he wanted in the ring, Adams wore his Judogi and performed many Judo maneuvers he was famous for against Austin, who wore his North Texas State football gear.

Adams also wrestled in various other independent promotions, including the GWF in which he won that federation's heavyweight championship twice in 1994, and briefly with Jim Crockett's 1995 version of the NWA. Adams also promoted a tour to Nigeria in 1993 (co-sponsored with Pepsi), which was a huge success.

During his stint in the GWF, Adams was involved in a match against Rod Price, in which Adams by accident tore the hair weave off Price's head, which resulted in stitches on Price's head. He also engaged in a lengthy feud with Iceman Parsons, whose history with Adams dates back to the glory days of World Class. Adams also formed a tag team with Kerry Von Erich which ended following Kerry's suicide in February 1993.

After his stint in the GWF, Chris competed in the American Wrestling Federation, a Chicago-based organization which, unlike other organizations, promoted under European wrestling moves. Adams, who had experience in European wrestling, often mentioned in the broadcasts of how the European wrestling rules work, and the use of a round system, which is similar to boxing.

Chris was also a promoter and wrestler of a few Dallas-based organizations, including Big D Pro Wrestling and the Freestyle Wrestling Federation.

In 1998, after the AWF folded, Chris began competing in World Championship Wrestling as either a jobber or a mid-carder. He was involved in a few angles, involving one with Lord Steven Regal, another in a battle of superkicks against Glacier, and a strange feud with Chip Minton (a fellow Olympian who competed in Bobsleeding during the Winter Olympics), who billed himself as "Mr. World Class", a nickname Adams felt was an insult to his past days in WCCW. Adams retaliated by entering the ring with his judogi and defeating Minton on many occasions, with a head-scissors submission, very similar to Kevin Von Erich's head-scissors. Adams also wrestled against David Taylor, another fellow British compatriot, and for a time was teamed with Taylor and Regal as the Blue Bloods. However, Adams and Regal shared legitimate animosity towards each other, and the team was quickly disbanded.

While in WCW, Adams became friends with several figures outside of wrestling, including Chuck Norris.

While Adams was involved with the Blue Bloods, he became a heel wrestler for the first time since 1986. While being jeered for the most part by WCW fans, Adams' heel move was praised by many longtime fans, and during a 1999 WCW event in Dallas, Adams drew the largest cheers of any heel wrestler on the card. It has been said that his Blue Bloods partner, Lord Steven Regal, hated Adams, as Adams was very open about his drinking and drug habits, often indulging in front of Regal, who at the time, was trying very hard to kick the habit and Adams' "in your face" attitude regarding openly tempting the recovering Regal made him unpopular in the locker room.

In late-1999, Adams was granted his release from WCW, unsatisfied with how he was being used in the organization, and returned to Texas as a promoter and part-time wrestler, appearing for a time in the NWA Southwest organization.

Personal troubles and death

Adams, like other World Class stars, battled drug and alcohol problems which plagued his entire career and eventually would lead to his death in 2001. In 1986, while returning from a wrestling event in Puerto Rico, Adams assaulted an airline pilot which resulted in a 90-day jail sentence and a $500 fine. In 1991, he spent another year in jail for assault and was put on probation for a pair of DUI's, including one while in Pittsburgh.

In April 2000, Adams and his girlfriend of four months, Linda Kaphengst, was found unconscious in a friend's apartment, the victims of an overdose of GHB and alcohol. Adams recovered, but Kaphengst died at a local hospital 10 hours later.

Her death resulted in severe depression for Adams, which ne never recovered from. Over a year later, he was indicted on a manslaughter charge, which would have resulted in a maximum 20-year prison term if convicted. Unfortunately, Adams did not live long enough for his day in court.

On October 7, 2001, Chris Adams was involved in a drunken brawl with a former roommate, which turned deadly. The roommate, William Brent Parnell, pulled a .38-calibur handgun and shot Adams in the chest during the fight. Adams was pronounced dead at the scene and Parnell was arrested and charged with first-degree murder.

However, during a hearing a few months later, the charges against Parnell was dismissed, for basis of self-defense. This decision drew harsh criticism against the Texas legal system, due to the fact that Parnell was set free based on Adams' past legal woes instead of determining whether or not Parnell had intentions to kill Adams, and also determine why he had a gun on his nightstand in the first place on the night of the murder.

Adams' sudden death resulted in major reprecusions in the lives of many former World Class stars; most notably Gary Hart, who went into severe depression, believing that he could have helped Chris battle his personal and legal troubles. Iceman Parsons, Chris' longtime arch-rival, went through a round of depression of his own and took time away from the sport following Adams' death. Sadly, a former girlfriend of Adams' for eight years died from a drug overdose a year after Adams' murder.

Prior to his death, Adams, who was considered semi-retired, planned to move to Florida and compete in a wrestling organization promoted by Ted DiBiase, featuring several former WCW and WWF stars, including Hulk Hogan.

Adams is survived by his wife of less than two months, Karen Adams, and three children; Jade, Chris Jr. and Julia, as well as his brother Neil Adams and his parents, Cyril and Jean Adams.

Prior to his death, Adams released a shoot interview in 2000, which became one of the best-selling shoot interviews in the industry today. Some of the footage from that interview was used on the most recent-release of the Heroes of World Class Championship Wrestling DVD.

Trivia

Profile

In Wrestling

Finishing and signature move(s)

Championships and accomplishments

Pro Wrestling Illustrated

External links

 

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